The Diary

24 September 2004: Down Memory Lane With Bomber And Friends

It was down to Kidderminster Branch tonight for what was billed as a ?1968 night?, ex-team captain around that time, defender Graham Williams, and Tony ?Bomber? Brown being the guest speakers, also Laraine and Dawn Astle, the latter to receive a cheque from that branch. I, for one, have more than one reason to remember the 1968 side ? they practically got me my English Language O-Level. Barely a month after the Final, I was sitting the exam: Write about a memorable day in your life, was one of the essay titles on offer that day, so guess what I wrote about? Yep, and it was enough to get me the top grade, so football does have its educational uses: David Blunkett, take note!

The general tone of the evening was set straightaway by Bomber, the self-described ?Little? of the Little And Large combo, when the raffle prize, a video, was announced. ?Oh, no!? said he in mock horror, ?Not Tuesday?s game!? He got his laugh. To kick off the session, Graham, who we see very little of these days, in total contrast to Bomber, described what he?s doing now. Apparently, he?s just been taken on by the Chelsea Academy, of all people, scouting in the north-west area for kids between the ages of 14-19. He watches their Academy games on Saturday mornings, and then shifts down to the Hawthorns for the afternoon, where he spends his time giving talks in the ?Legends? room, and question and answer sessions in the new stand. In his spare time, he is a devotee of the pursuit involving woods, irons, and the pursuit of little balls that have landed in impossible places. Although it?s been years since he was in the game proper, he still likes to be involved in it.

He well recalls the time, around 20 years ago, when he was involved with a side in Finland, and they reached the quarter-finals of their Youth Cup. That November, Albion sent out very clear signals they wanted him there, as they?d just sacked their manager (there?s a surprise!), and on the strength of that, Graham returned to Blighty. Funny, though, he never heard a word from them after that!

The conversation then shifted to Colchester ? not Tuesday?s fiasco, but a different time, a different, less materialistic mindset, when, in 1968, our finest thought they?d gone out of the Cup competition ? then, with only minutes left to go, the ref disallowed a Colchester strike. Said Bomber, ?We thought that was going to be our year ? you get that feeling sometimes.?

The subject-matter then turned to styles of play; obviously, what was done in 1968 wasn?t the way it?s done in the present day. Bomber, once more: ?If you?ve got three or four goalscorers in the side, you can beat anyone.? This was a reference, not only to himself and Jeff, but also to Chippy Clark, ?small, brave, quick? Bomber described him, ?A wide man who stayed wide, but scored goals.? Apparently, Chippy, whose health has been slowly deteriorating in recent years, now needs residential care, and can no longer recognise members of his own immediate family. What a tragic end for the man who gave me so much pleasure all those long years ago; even now I can picture him, socks rolled down to his ankles, striped shirt flowing from out of his shorts, a gesture of defiance all of its own, minus shinpads, and thereby offering a very vulnerable part of his body to the best defenders (cloggers?) in the land. And, more often than not, making them look extremely foolish. When Chippy finally goes, I reckon a part of me will go with him.

More on that Sixties side, and the League Cup final, versus West Ham. Graham Williams reckoned that despite having a fitness test and an injection prior to the final, The King was the first out onto that field. ?Mind you,? said Graham with a twinkle in his eye, ?It was a different matter altogether when he was up against the likes of George Curtis? (A well-known clog-dancer of that era.) And, about Bobby Hope?s legendary ball-control skills, ?Tell him to put the ball-lace away when kicking it in training (make the ball fly in a highly-specific pattern) and he?d do it!? More on that West Ham game, ?- The team coach broke down on the M1 going to the game, and a furniture van pulled up on the hard shoulder and the driver asked what was wrong, so we told him. With that, he picked up the whole side, kit and all, in his big white van, and drove us all the way to Upton Park!?

Other memories surfaced, those of Albion versus Man United, just before the end of our Cup winning season, a sell-out, the gates locked around an hour before the kick-off, many getting in by fair means or foul, so many, they had to be seated around the running-track. Imagine the hilarity among the players when the official gate was later given out as some 10,000 below capacity! And, following on from that, Graham?s memories of what subsequently became known as The Battle Of Bruges ? and believe you me, it really was a battle, The King, concussed, being the principal casualty of that night. Said Tony Brown, who regularly ?roomed? with Jeff, ?It was the only time he was quiet!?

And then there was the infamous East African tour, undertaken not long after Albion had won the FA Cup, the first game being held in Mombasa, Kenya, in scorching heat. All the expat Brit community had backed the Baggies to win 14-0, but the final score was 1-1. Before the game, the players waited in the dressing-room, the facilities of which were ?basic? to say the least, the toilet consisting of a hole in the ground, and little more! The scheduled kick-off time was 3 o?clock, but this was put back, and it was around 4.30 by the time things got under way.

To say the whole thing was ?acrimonious? would be a gross understatement of the facts; it was far, far, worse. A fight broke out, due to a horrendous tackle on Chippy Clark, which was to finish his career, pretty much, and the game was stopped with the scores at level-pegging. A bit embarrassing for the British diplomatic community, who?d organised the whole thing, as the fisticuffs took place in front of all the top Kenyan politicians of that time, Jomo Kenyatta, and Arap Moi, who became their head honcho after Kenyatta called it a day.

But that wasn?t the end of it. As a conciliatory gesture, it was agreed the game would be replayed, and as a further gesture, John Osborne, among others, took flowers onto the pitch to throw to the crowd. This they did ? only to get the flowers thrown right back! Oh, dear ? so much for diplomacy, then. Furthermore, both Graham and Bomber reckoned each game on that tour was a battle. Remember Percy Freeman? A bloke with the build of a boxer, according to our guests, and by God, he could put himself about some. He wasn?t on the field for one particular game but, according to The Bomber, he still managed to put four blokes in hospital. And, not content with that, nearly caused a riot at a nightclub, by getting up and doing what would now be called Karaoke. The chosen song? Ten out of ten for tact, Perce, - er ? ?Black Is Black?, would you believe?

As Tony added, once the laughter had stopped, ?It?s very difficult to recreate that (team) spirit today; we were all together for five or ten years. The club had all the power then, if they didn?t want you, that was it. Despite that, it was a happy club. Most players were there ten years or so. They were brought up to go to places like the Throstle Club, and meet you supporters ? it was a family club. Now, it?s these PLC?s and big business. We were encouraged to meet the supporters, and because they got to know us socially, they used to make allowances when we didn?t play all that well.?

Players would be keen to do supporters club events, you only had to ask one, and there would quickly be a crowd of players wanting to go, now, it?s their Jags and their Mercedes, and they don?t want to do it. When I was a youngster, then, the Albion had eight teams, my first game was with Cubbington Albion. Most of the players then came through the system, that?s why it was such a great club. There was a lot of mickey-taking; Jeff (Astle) turned up for his first game for the club in a green blazer. Hopey (Bobby Hope) took one look at him, and said, ?The bus driver has to wait outside!? ?

Added The Bomber, ?The players are frightened to go to meetings, now, because of fears of the press getting hold of what they say. In our day, the press used to travel with us, people like Ray Matts, Jeff Farmer. They were one of us, almost. Times have changed: the recent so-called ?bust up? on the bus was a classic example. We used to have fights all the time, but it never got into the press. The press now are a very different breed from when we were playing. Then, if there was trouble, they?d keep quiet, but the present breed are different. The old reporters, who were training around that time, will tell you.?

The conversation then turned to George Best, and those early years with Manchester United. Said Graham, ?He didn?t drink at all, at first!? Then, memories of Stanley Matthews. Our former skipper remembers him principally because he was the reason he was awarded his first Welsh cap. ?I had a great game versus Blackpool when Stan was playing. He was almost at the end of his career, and I was told to mark him; naturally, Stan?s legs weren?t what they were. The Welsh side selectors were at that game ? and that?s how I got my first cap!?

A team-talk, Major Wilson Keys-style! ?Make sure you win the toss, make sure you know which way the wind is blowing, and may the best man win!? Cue for much quiet sniggering in the dressing-room, and afterwards, a pretty-unanimous ?B******s to that!? And, John Gaunt, Black Country to the last, doing similar during a bad spell at the club, ?Yow bluddy lot ? Mar milkman?s bin on about yow?..!? He, Graham and Bomber reminded us, was the bloke who sacked Alan Ashman because he was ?fed up of going to Wembley?! Bert Millichip, though, was the first director to invite players? wives into the boardroom after the game; prior to that, it had been a very much ?officers and other ranks? state of affairs, and with that revelation, we broke for refreshments.

Come the second period, come reminiscences of the 1963 so-called ?tracksuit rebellion?. At the time, snow completely blanketed the Midlands, and our then-training HQ, at Spring Road, was no exception. At the time, our finest were ploughing through those drifts dressed in T-shirts, shorts - and pumps, plimsolls, daps, call ?em what you will. Totally inadequate clothing for the conditions, modern medical science would now declare. And so would the players; although lacking any medical qualifications, they knew things weren?t right, several of them were getting headaches as a result of training in the intense cold.

Eventually, a deputation of players came to Graham, and asked him, in his capacity of team captain, to go to then-gaffer Jimmy Hagan, and try to sort something out. Sadly, Jimmy wouldn?t budge, ?You play in those things on Saturdays, you train in them!? Instead of settling the argument, as it should have, the result was a proposed players? strike. A crisis meeting was later held in Stan Jones?s Caf? (now a chippy-cum-kebab place in the High Street) and the decision was taken there. A meeting with Jim Gaunt was then held at Spring Road; by this time, the players were extremely apprehensive because of the likely loss of income. Graham wasn?t on his own in that he?d just bought a house. Eventually, Gaunt called the players in and decided both sides were in the wrong and had to sort it out; a compromise was reached insofar as they trained in tracksuit tops from then on!

This, of course, then led on to recollections of what went down in Albion folklore as the the famous ?Car in the canal? incident. As those of you who have been to our old training HQ will know, right alongside where the cars were parked was a 120 foot drop via a grass embankment, to the murky depths of the canal below. It?s been cleaned up since then, but I remember it as a weed-and-algae-encrusted horror. The firat Graham Williams knew of what had happened was when another player ran into the dressing room shouting, ?The Boss has gone over the top!?

At first, thinking this to be yet another Hagan explosion at some poor lad?s expense, no-one reacted. And then they realised precisely what had been said! Sure enough, there was Hagan?s vehicle, in the drink, and sinking rapidly, and their Gaffer trying to exit via the front window. Players rusjed down with a stretcher to rescue the bloke ? he?d broken a vertebrae, according to Graham and Bomber, and was in hospital for about 4 weeks ? but even as they dragged him up the steep incline to safety and an ambulance, even then, he was still berating them for not being ?bloody fit? ? all the exertion getting him to the top had made them pant heavily!

More from Bomber about the Alan Ashman ? ?A gentleman? - incident where, around 15 minutes before kick off, he walked into the dressing room, and found his players all watching some horse race or another. ?Turn it off so I can do the team-talk,? he told Jeff. ?Not on your nelly!? said The King, or words to that effect ? so, realising when he was beat, Ashman walked out again! The players didn?t take advantage ? that was one thing they never did with Alan?s gentle manner ? they simply watched the race, went out onto that pitch, won 5-0 ? and The King scored a hat-trick! As Bomber said, different managers, different methods. Can you imagine the present lot doing that with Megson these days? And Archie McAuley?s idea of a pre-match meal ? calf?s foot jelly, and raw eggs? After you with the sick-bucket!

Graham used to baby-sit for Don Howe when he was a player at the club, then he went to Arsenal. They took Don, but not Graham, who was supposed to have signed as well! Then, after the passage of time, Don Howe returned to the Albion, but as manager this time, this after Alan Ashman was given the sack. He hadn?t been there too long when Graham was told to leave and subsequently went to Weymouth Town. Tony Brown said he (Howe) was a good player, but as manager, it was a nightmare time for the club. He mentioned the infamous ?rope? incident, where he, Len Cantello, and Asa Hartford wer all roped together to make some abstruse coaching point. As Bomber said, ?If he?d just told us to do it that way during games, instead of all that, we would have done it, no bother!? The trouble was, said Bomber, he had no sense of humour and thought he could bring the same methods he?d used at Arsenal to the Hawthorns, but he was, of course, dealing with a completely different set of players. He even told Jeff Astle, of all people, to stop heading the ball! Another example of eccentric coaching methods? Jimmy Hagan, again, and his request, during pre-season training, in the Clent hills ? for five different sets of leaves, would you believe?

Bomber?s thoughts on Johnny Giles, Howe?s successor? As he commented, ?A good manager is one that gets the best out of the players you?ve got.? He was always available and always wanted the ball ? he actually gave his players specific instructions to feed him the ball at all times, irrespective of the number of opposing players marking him at the time! Bomber reckoned Giles taught him so much about the game, and restored the players? confidence after a grim period with Howe, and got them playing again. His knowledge of the game was second to none. Bomber recalled his sending-off, just after he?d taken over at the club. Afterwards, he stood in the dressing-room, and sorrowfully declared, ?I?ve let you down, I?ve let myself down, and I?ve let the club down ? but I?ve been wanting to get that b*****d for the past five years!?

And, with that, the night was at an end. There was much more, but had I recorded everything verbatim, I?d still be typing come six in the morning! It only remained for Kiddy Branch head honcho Roy Haden to present tonight?s other guest, Laraine Astle and daughter Dawn with a cheque for ?200, the donation being in memory of The late King. Laraine then made a very eloquent but emotive speech, saying, amongst other things, she wanted the money to go to an Alzheimer?s Disease charity, and was roundly applauded. A lovely night, and, as we said afterwards, a much-needed reminder in these somewhat cynical post-Colchester days of a time when egos weren?t bigger than the club itself, and club, manager and players really, genuinely, cared about supporters. How different to today ? they just take your money and run, now, it seems to me.

And finally?.. A message from the ?Sheikh of Araby? well of Halfords Lane at any rate, Terry Pratchett lookalike, Alan Cleverly. As I mentioned some time ago, plans were afoot to get a big screen into what I now call the ?Big Tent? aka the back room of the Hawthorns Hotel. Well, Alan is now pleased to announce that it should happen for the Bolton game, so if that sort of thing is your bent, get your carcass to the above venue pre-match. Just make sure you?re an SC member first, though ? details from any SC Committee member on the door.

 - Glynis Wright

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