Few Waddo Stories from the Sentinel

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STANLEY Matthews gave Tony Waddington a dose of collywobbles before his big comeback game in October 1961.
Waddington had already kept the great man back for a home game against Huddersfield – going against his normal policy of bedding a new player in during an away fixture.

And then, just minutes before Stan's big return at the Victoria Ground, the wing wizard appeared to have been taken ill.
"Few people knew about the fear I had before the game when Stan appeared to be taken violently ill," said Waddington.

"He spent most of the time in the bathroom being sick and I must confess I was worried sick myself.
"It needed Jackie Mudie's knowledge of Stan to set my mind at rest.
"He said it was normal practice for Stan to be like that.
"He explained: 'Stan likes to get up any food he may not have digested properly earlier in the day.'"
Stan's return saw Stoke's home gate rocket from 8,409 before his arrival to 35,974 for the day of the Huddersfield game.
So maybe the directors, not just Waddington, were keen to delay his comeback match for the Victoria Ground, a game Stoke won 3-0.
The following season saw the big freeze of 1962/63 – and that called for ingenious methods to soften up the rock hard pitches for the ageing winger.
"Stan preferred the surface to be soft," Waddington remembered. "That started the water treatment. We obtained some special anti-freeze liquid and the fire brigade came and flooded the pitch.
"I recall Stan walking from his hotel in Stoke to the ground in his brown suede shoes with thick heels followed by hordes of youngsters, like a modern-day pied piper.
"He would test the pitch as the water came up around his ankles and say: 'It could do with a little more water, Tony.'
"The stuff we put on the pitch ruined the grass, but the lads were happy and we won promotion on it."

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TONY Waddington was always proud of the spirit in his team ... even though some of it came from a bottle.
"It was just to steady the nerves," he explained. "Even Stan Matthews had the odd drink of glucose and Champagne as the adrenalin got to him near to kick-off.
"Centre-half George Kinnell, a cousin of Jim Baxter, liked the odd dram.
"And I felt Alan Hudson was entitled to have a glass or two of Champagne with Alan Ball the night after making his England debut in the 2-0 success over West Germany in 1975. Both had made their contribution.

"But forget the stories that any of my players ever staggered out on to the pitch.
"If players are training daily, they cannot maintain endurance routines if they are drinking heavily the night before."
One of Waddington's favourite memories as manager of Stoke City was the day Hudson made his debut for the club.
The Londoner instantly won the Stoke fans over with an inspirational performance in a 1-1 draw against the mighty Liverpool in 1974.
"Bill Shankly came to me after the game and said, 'I just want a quiet word with you in the dressing room'. Well a quiet word was impossible for Bill, but he came in and paid Alan a great tribute.
'That was the greatest 90 minutes display I have ever seen from a player', he declared.
Hudson's arrival at Stoke was partly due to a chat Waddington had with then Crystal Palace boss Malcolm Allison.
"I'd asked Malcolm about the possibility of signing Hudson. He told me I had no chance of enticing him out of London, and also suggested Stoke were not a big enough club to lure him. But he also said Alan was a great player.
"Well that was enough for me. I went out and signed him."


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STOKE City should be forever grateful to the Aston Villa-Birmingham City rivalry.
For without that, Jimmy Greenhoff might have left the Blues for the Villans, not Stoke, for £100,000 back in 1969.
Tony Waddington acted after hearing on the grapevine that Greenhoff was unsettled at St Andrews because strike partner Fred Pickering was on a higher wage.
"At the same time I discovered that Tommy Docherty, the then manager at Villa, wanted him too.

"But because of the rivalry between the clubs, the Birmingham manager, Stan Cullis, said there was no chance of Greenhoff going to Villa.
"I could not really believe that Greenhoff was being made available.
"I had a chat with Maurice Lindley, the chief scout at Leeds, and asked him about the player.
"Maurice suggested he was lazy and would not put himself about.
"That was far from my view having watched the player, so I backed my own judgement, even though it was Stoke's first six-figure transfer fee.
"Stan Cullis sold him reluctantly and said, 'This is a transfer I am making with regret. You will not sign a better player'. He was right."
SO why did Alan Hudson and Jimmy Greenhoff retire from the game with just Huddy's two England caps between them?
Stoke fans have long considered that statistic a dreadful injustice to a couple of the most skilful players to ever grace the Victoria Ground.
Waddington wonders whether Hudson's role at Stoke was one of the reasons – along with his drinking perhaps – that the midfielder fell foul of England boss Don Revie.
"I allowed him to play his natural deep-lying game," the former Stoke boss explained.
"I often wonder whether the way we played him affected his England chances, but he would set up moves anywhere on the field. With a player of his talent I was not going to dictate the way he played."
As for Greenhoff, Waddington had a theory that involved Jimmy's younger brother Brian.
"It was wrong Jimmy never played for England. I believe he fell foul of Don Revie because Brian signed for Manchester United instead of Leeds when Jimmy was at Elland Road."

 

Cheers Sgt, really good read.