I just thought I would give my tribute to the worlds best keeper .Most of you will probably never heard of him unless you listen to your grand dads i.e .me ! Bert was a prisoner of war and worse still he was a german . After the war there was naturally a great deal of resentment to Italians but much more to the germans .This is only natural as many people living in this graet country of ours had lost their loved ones to the Nazis. Bert bless him decided to stay which showed a great mental courage he somehow got signed by Stockport to play in goal you can imagine the verbal he took from the crowd behind his goal but this seemed to spur him on.Soon he was spotted by scouts and City against the views of their supporters signed him .The fans some probably lost loved ones and their homes and possessions to his race let it be known they did not want him other than to go back home! It speaks volumes of the man he won their hearts and soon he was adored by home and away supporters which to me speaks volumes of the british people . Playing in the cup final which was now televised on BBC he went down injured with the game crucially poised Birmingham putting on a great deal of pressure .Bert went down to prevent the centre forward of Brum scoring he stayed down and the whole crowd new he was badly hurt .He wasn,t a diver so you knew something was wrong.After several minutes he got gingerly up and carried on City were victorious and in the dressing room Bert collapsed he was rushed to hospital were he was found to have broken his neck. Later that next season he was playing at ER Leeds had bought Hughie Baird from Airdrie for £12000he was through on goal with only Bert to beat Bert anticipated where Baird shot was going diving to his left .Baird miskicked so the ball was actually going in the opposite corner .Bert in mid air flicked his right foot and kicked the ball over the bar the save of the century I was gutted yet you had to admire the man . So Bert you no doubt will be a welcome addition upstairs .God bless you were the greatest I have written this from memory so somethings maybe inaccurate which will no doubt be picked up by some
