I don't remember so many players being unavailable because of injuries, especially muscle strains, back in the 60's and 70's. Would a couple of pints and a packet of crisps before the game help some of these modern day fairies. I wonder what Duncan Wellbourne thinks?
Hopefully Duncan is still alive. On wiki it claims his 280 consecutive Football League games remains a record, perhaps muscle strain had not been invented then.
Maybe the odd *** as well behind the trees whilst training as I saw a couple of them doing then. I can remember reading a part of Harry Redknapp's memoirs about how, in his West Ham playing days, he would meet together with Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst to drive to the station and then the team would travel by train to away matches. After team coaches came in they would always stop at a chip shop on the way back from away matches. Looking at old you tube videos from the 60s, 70s and 80s it is amazing the quagmires they had to play on at times, but it seemed normal then. Thinking back - when were Luther Blissett, Ross Jenkins, Nigel Callaghan, Tommy Mooney, or later Tommy Smith ever unavailable through injury ?
It is quite amazing to think that Duncan Welbourne when he was 21 years old spent six months in hospital with TB.
One of the earlier managers I remember was Neil McBain in his second spell at the club 1956-1959. He had a pretty big drink problem, and the team coach was stopped at pubs he knew. The players were left on the coach while he nipped in for a quick scotch or two.
I believe the problem is the fine tuning of fitness these days in the sixties, seventies and eighties players were trained to the fitness of marathon runners and natural pace was a blessing these days they are trained to the fitness of 100 and 200 metre athletes but still have to run a marathon or at least a half marathon during a game so minor tweaks become injuries just look as Usain Bolts last race, he was too fine tuned for his body to take
