I don't know if this has been posted before but it's a good write up on the great days of 1965-66. It's too long to appear as a single post so I've done it as a two parter. http://thetwounfortunates.com/great-football-league-teams-42-hull-city-1965-6/ PART ONE These are heady days indeed for Hull City, back in the Premier league after a short absence, even their capture of the wiles of Steve Bruce saw few tip the Tigers last August. But this current purple period for the East Riding is by no means the only high point in the club’s history. Here’s Matthew Rudd of Amber Nectar with a look back to a famous World Cup year. … If attack really is the best form of defence, then few sides have realised this cliché as ruthlessly as the Hull City side of the 1960s. Under manager Cliff Britton, it was almost entirely reliant on a front five of such devastating ability to create and score goals that the rearguard was deemed pretty much incidental. In the Third Division campaign of 1965-66, this was as obvious and as destructive a policy as that of any über-offensive team since. The Tigers had been a largely unnoticed club on a national scale until the 1960s. They produced workmanlike teams and only occasionally shoved their heads above the parapet when appointing big names to their staff, such as when Raich Carter became manager or Neil Franklin was given a route out of exile. In the days of regionalised lower divisions, they bobbed between the northern third and national second tiers a bit during the post-war era while seldom looking likely either to climb to the First Division or drop to the Fourth. In 1961, benevolent chairman and building magnate Harold Needler gave the manager’s job to Britton. Britton had been born Hanham, Bristol, in 1909. A wing half, he played for Bristol Rovers as a teenager before joining Everton in 1930, aged 21, staying there for eight years. He was crucial to the creation of the Dixie Dean legend, setting up a sizeable number of the demon centre forward’s goals, and won the FA Cup in 1933. He played nine times for England and settled into life as a coach and manager after the Second World War, rarely having a moment out of work. Long spells with Burnley, Everton and Preston North End followed before he crossed the Pennines to East Yorkshire. Initially, Britton relied heavily on the players he had inherited and the talented locals coming through the ranks. One such local stood out; a tall, toothy 18 year old centre forward called Chris Chilton, born and raised in the hushed village of Sproatley, who had already eschewed art college to enjoy a full season in the first team, rattling in 20 goals as the Tigers finished in Division Three’s unremarkable mid-table. As mediocre as the side was, the emergence of a fearless boy in Chilton was Britton’s instant focal point; when the time was right he would rebuild the forward line around a man who could, with luck and fitness, score the goals that would take the Tigers to the top of the game. The ambition of the club and the ability of this centre forward meant that everyone took this aim seriously. Britton made few alterations, though one of his first recruits was a pacy inside forward called Ray Henderson, a Geordie who’d enjoyed a purple patch in front of goal with Middlesbrough the previous season and on whom Britton made a snap decision. Henderson joined the long-serving John McSeveney as Chilton’s main provider over the next few seasons, though McSeveney himself was unusually prolific, giving Britton food for thought as to the value of acquiring actual goalscorers to play in (and play off) Chilton, rather than occasional ones. City finished tenth in each of Britton’s first two seasons. The improvement was noticeable but still a tad gradual. Britton was a patient man and Needler rewarded him and the club handsomely for his ideals by raising £200,000 through his building company to improve Boothferry Park and the team that played on it. New free-standing floodlights, unique for the time, were erected and the south stand of the ground rebuilt. Britton was grateful for the money but found his path to the players he wanted often blocked; he bought a new goalkeeper in Maurice Swan and a tidy left back in Dennis Butler, but his dream was to have a forward line that bigger and more successful clubs would envy. After an eighth-placed finish in 1964, Britton brought in an Evertonian wing half in Alan Jarvis and a League Cup winning striker in Terry Heath, but neither made an immediate impact; indeed, Jarvis had to wait a whole year for his debut. Chilton was still scoring and Henderson still marauding but Britton was impatient; he was still using the ageing Doug Clarke on one wing and had fast-tracked Smoggie teenager Billy Wilkinson from the reserves to play behind them, even though he was more suited to a deeper role. In November 1964, Britton got his man at last, signing bolshie goalscorer Ken Wagstaff to play alongside Chilton as both a foil and an equal. He gave Mansfield Town, whose fans were distraught, £40,000 for the 21 year old marksman. Wagstaff scored in his first three games and he and Chilton clicked instantly. Two months later, inside forward Ken Houghton and fleet-of-foot winger Ian Butler (unrelated to Dennis) arrived together from Rotherham United. McSeveney continued on the wing but made clear his wish to retire shortly and begin coaching, allowing Henderson a long-term future. The forward line was in place. For the remainder of 1964-65, the Tigers set about everybody. Wagstaff scored a phenomenal 23 goals in 25 games, just four behind his new buddy Chilton. Houghton was an inventive revelation behind them; McSeveney enjoyed his Indian summer and Ian Butler didn’t miss a minute. Further back, less attention was being paid to those making up the XI, though hard-as-nails skipper Andy Davidson, in his 13th season as a senior player, could still be heard barking out the encouragement in his best Lanarkshire drawl. The goal tally rose like a rocket, the crowds swelled as best they could within a stadium midway through refurbishment, and City bullied their way through the division to finish fourth, the pre-November start to the season ultimately costing them promotion. And so to 1965-66. Tigers fans of appropriate vintage still coo about what they saw. Britton put Henderson on the right wing to replace the retired McSeveney and otherwise left well alone. Before the impact of the forward line is fully set out, it’s worth mentioning the roles played by the likes of Davidson, Mike Milner and local boy Chris Simpkin who formed part of the back-up put together by Britton with barely a glance. They, along with Dennis Butler and the promoted Jarvis, were stalwarts suited to the Third Division who for some of the time had their work done for them by those up front. It is true that City ended the season seemingly on a “they scored three so we got four” basis, even if this wasn’t officially Britton’s policy. Maybe this is why some outsiders would say they weren’t a great team, as they often couldn’t – or didn’t need to – defend. But football is about winning, and if you can do so in style and leave your opponents frazzled and your supporters gasping, then all the better. The Hull City team of 1965-66 did just that. Continued in Part 2
I'm pretty sure Chris Chilton made his debut in the first team as a recently turned 17 year old in 1960. He proceeded to score 20 goals in his first season. The author suggests he was 18 yrs old.
Indeed he was only 17, scoring his first goal on 22/8/1960. he was seventeen in june of the same year.
