Found this rather interesting. It's from an article on 'The Camel' ( Vic Keeble ), on the NUFC.com page. Keeble was the only guy that was thought would be able to take penalty's with his head. The man nicknamed "The Camel" later spoke about Newcastle's FA Cup preparations: "Before every big game, we would be taken away to the seaside. It was usually Blackpool and thereâd be a golf course and a swimming pool". "There wasnât a great deal known about diet in those days so we just ate normally, which included a breakfast of bacon and eggs. Nobody ever wondered about counting calories or carbohydrates. "The only thing I remember the club insisting was that we all drank this foul cocktail of wine, sherry and a raw egg. We all had to force it down because for some reason they thought it did us good! "We were all on £14 to £16 a week and we didnât get a bonus until we actually won The Final. And that was just an extra 25 quid!" I wonder how today's players would react to that.
To be honest thats pretty much how it should be now. The wages are astronomical, there is too much money involved which means that people are striving for that extra bit in terms of health and how they eat etc. The Premiership games have moved away from the Sunday Leagues so much that its a bit of a joke. Players on a Sunday seem to be taking it more seriously as they see players doing it. The fun out of football seems to be dying out...and that's coming from a person who is a young age of 23.
Yes, tradesmens wages in those days. Let's face it, what would you rather do, play football for that money or work over 40 hours a week (in those days) underground in the mines? Of course Wor Jackie knew what conditions were like there too, having worked in the mines himself and often got ready to play football on the way to the ground after a shift.
