February / March 2004
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John Charles (Hereford United)
21
February 2004 It says something remarkable about
the man that news of John Charles' illness still made
Back Page headlines. Today I woke up to the very sad news
that King John had died. John is possibly one of the
greatest Welsh footballers of all time and certainly the
greatest star for Leeds United outside of the Revie
years, and argued by some, including the Revie years.
Some of
his achievements have left an indelible legacy on the
game of football. He was a member of the last ever team
Wales got through to the World Cup Finals in 1958; he
scored 42 League goals in one season (1953-54) for Leeds
United, which remains their record ,and was just one of 4
times he was the club's leading scorer on his way to 153
League goals for the club; and in 1957, when he moved to Juventus in Italy he set
a record transfer fee of £67,000 and went on to score 93
goals in 155 matches !
Read any story of
the stars of John's era in football and they will state
him as one of their heroes. He was the 'Gentle Giant' -
never booked or sent off, at nearly 6 ft 2 unbeatable in
the air, who made both the centre-half and centre-forward
positions his own. As a player he was worshiped wherever
he went. He was Footballer of the Year in Itlay, where he
won 3 Championship medals, and in Leeds, his adopted home
town he is regarded as a legend.
In recent years,
there was some recognition that John's great football
career had gone unrewarded. There was a campaign to get
John a knighthood, sadly this didn't succeed though a CBE
did follow 2001. He was made a vice president of the
Football Association of Wales in 2002, and last year John
became the very first player to enter Leeds Unted's Hall
of Fame.
For me he will
always be the hero that put Leeds United on the football
map. I was there the day Peter Lorimer overhauled his
League goals record, and I couldn't imagine the record
books having a different name as Leeds United's leading
goalscorer. It was with some excitement that I discovered
that he had a rightful place on Bob's 70-71 Pages, as he
was still a player-manager of Hereford United a team he
had joined in 1966.
A story like John's
spans the generations. In 2002, forty years after his
last games for Leeds United, he was voted by fans as the
fourth greatest Leeds player of all time. I cannot
believe that all those votes were from players who
witnessed him play. His legend lives on and he will ever
remain in our football memories.
The following
profile appears at BBC SPORT Football Charles The Gentle
Giant
Charles:
The Gentle Giant
John
Charles was a footballing hero to many and was the
first British player to be signed by a foreign club,
joining Juventus of Italy in 1957 for a then record
fee of £65,000.
He was born
in Swansea, had a poor upbringing and learned to play
his football in the streets wearing clogs.
He went to
Leeds United when he was only 17 and was first capped
for Wales just after his 18th birthday.
Charles had
tremendous speed, great presence and was a formidable
header of the ball.
He was
equally effective first as centre-half, then as
centre-forward.
In eight
years with Leeds, he scored more than 150 goals,
including 42 in the 1953-4 season.
His
transfer to Juventus changed the face of British
football by giving players the opportunity to make
big money from the game.
The
transfer set a trend that was to see others such as
Jimmy Greaves and Denis Law following in his
footsteps.
At
Juventus, he was revered by the fans, who called him
"Il Buon Gigante", the gentle giant.
He was well
over six foot tall, weighed almost 14 stone and was
never sent off or even cautioned.
Charles
enjoyed the Italian lifestyle despite the rigid
regimentation and rigorous training schedules of the
time.
He bought a
share in a restaurant, had a villa on the Italian
Riviera, another in Turin, and Fiat ensured he had
two top-of-the-range cars.
At
Juventus, he established a magnificent partnership
with Omar Sivori, the Argentine forward, the two
becoming the most feared combination in the Italian
game.
With
Juventus, who had languished near the bottom of Serie
A before his arrival, Charles won three championships
and the Italian Cup.
In 1958, he
took part in the World Cup in Sweden at the time when
Pele was making his international mark.
John Charles was a
footballing hero to many and was the first British
player to be signed by a foreign club, joining
Juventus of Italy in 1957 for a then record fee of
£65,000.
He was born
in Swansea, had a poor upbringing and learned to play
his football in the streets wearing clogs.
He went to
Leeds United when he was only 17 and was first capped
for Wales just after his 18th birthday.
Charles had
tremendous speed, great presence and was a formidable
header of the ball.
He was
equally effective first as centre-half, then as
centre-forward.
In eight
years with Leeds, he scored more than 150 goals,
including 42 in the 1953-4 season.
His
transfer to Juventus changed the face of British
football by giving players the opportunity to make
big money from the game.
The
transfer set a trend that was to see others such as
Jimmy Greaves and Denis Law following in his
footsteps.
At
Juventus, he was revered by the fans, who called him
"Il Buon Gigante", the gentle giant.
He was well
over six foot tall, weighed almost 14 stone and was
never sent off or even cautioned.
Charles
enjoyed the Italian lifestyle despite the rigid
regimentation and rigorous training schedules of the
time.
He bought a
share in a restaurant, had a villa on the Italian
Riviera, another in Turin, and Fiat ensured he had
two top-of-the-range cars.
At
Juventus, he established a magnificent partnership
with Omar Sivori, the Argentine forward, the two
becoming the most feared combination in the Italian
game.
With
Juventus, who had languished near the bottom of Serie
A before his arrival, Charles won three championships
and the Italian Cup.
In 1958, he
took part in the World Cup in Sweden at the time when
Pele was making his international mark.
Unfortunately,
injury forced Charles to miss the quarter-final
against Brazil, which the South Americans won 1-0.
After five
years and 93 goals, he returned briefly to Leeds,
then went to Roma, before ending his playing career
with Cardiff.
He became
manager of Hereford, then Merthyr Tydfil, and became
technical director with the Canadian side Hamilton
Steelers.
After his
retirement, Charles, whose brother Mel also played 31
times for Wales, ran a pub in Yorkshire for many
years.
He was
awarded the CBE in 2001.
He leaves
four sons - the eldest of whom, Terry, is a selector
with Cardiff Rugby Club and another, Melvyn, was a
professional rugby league player with Halifax.
Until
recently, he attended every Leeds home game and was
an active member of the Leeds United ex-Players'
Association.
Along with
former Elland Road favourite Peter Lorimer, he toured
the after-dinner circuit raising money for charity.
Also see the Leeds
United Official Site tribute at Leeds United Football Club -
John Charles 1931 - 2004
And Brian Glanville's
obituary at Guardian Unlimited The Guardian
John Charles
Geoff Twentyman (Liverpool)
The following
tribute to one of the famous Liverpool Boot Room Boys at
Liverpool appears at Kennedy's debt to renowned chief
scout Twentyman
Alan
Kennedy has paid his own glowing tribute to the man
who was responsible for him joining Liverpool back in
1978 - Geoff Twentyman, who sadly passed away earlier
this week.
Kennedy admits he will be forever indebted to
Twentyman for recommending him to Bob Paisley and
describes the Reds former chief scout as an unsung
member of the legendary boot-room team.
A sombre Kennedy told Liverpoolfc.tv: "He was
the man who brought me to Liverpool. Bob Paisley had
told Geoff that the squad needed strengthening in the
full-back department, I was playing for Newcastle at
the time and he came to watch me play in a pre-season
game at Hull.
"I knew scouts were at the game watching me but
I was never aware anyone from Liverpool was in
attendance. Years later Geoff told me he went to the
game in disguise so that no-one would be alerted to
Liverpool's interest in me.
"Bob went on to agree a deal with Newcastle and
complete my signing but it was on the strong
recommendation of Geoff that I ended up at Liverpool
and if it wasn't for him I might never have.
"Geoff would often be at Melwood and we'd always
have a chat. The lads used to love his broad Cumbrian
accent. I remember after being at the club for about
six months Geoff used to always get ribbed by the
other players because it was he who recommended that
the club signed me! It was all tongue-in-cheek stuff
but I felt I had to repay the faith Geoff had shown
in me.
"I was very close to Geoff. He was a very nice
man, with a great demeanour. I used to go to his
house quite often back then as well. He was a very
proud family man and there'd be pictures of the old
days when he was a player on the walls. He'd tell me
stories about when he was a player with Liverpool and
what it was like at Anfield then.
"Geoff's opinion on a player was the best you
could get at the time. He knew what Bill (Shankly),
Bob (Paisley) and Joe (Fagan) wanted. He knew what
was good for Liverpool Football Club and if a player
didn't fit that bill he wouldn't be signed.
"He not only looked at the footballing ability
of the player, he also paid close attention to the
character of the person and whether he'd fit in or
not.
"Geoff was an integral part of Liverpool
Football Club but was never given the full credit for
what he done. You get some scouts who will forever be
mouthing off saying they discovered such and such a
player but Geoff was never like that. He just kept
quiet, although secretly I think he would have been
pleased to see so many of the players he recruited go
on and achieve so much success."
Bob Stokoe (Carlisle United)
I was very sad to
hear of the death of a football great, Bob Stokoe. At the
start of the 70-71 season Bob was manager of one of
Carlisle United's most successful teams. He left to join
an ailing Blackpool, replacing Les Shannon, but could not
prevent the side being relegated out of the top Division
for the last time to date.
Natrually it is as
manager of Sunderland that he is best remembered when he
took Sunderland a (old-) Second Division side all the way
to the 1973 Cup Final and beat, against all the odds, Don
Revie's Leeds United side at the peak of their
footballing powers. The photos of a celebrating Bob
Stokoe in his trilby hat is one of the most famous images
of all FA Cup Finals.
Very special thanks
to Peter Gillatt from the excellent www.seasiders.net website for emailing me with the news
about Bob, and for allowing me to reproduce this official
obituary written by Blackpool club historian and
Seasiders.net contributor, Gerry Wolstenholme. The
article can be found at Seasiders.net - Bob Stokoe
ROBERT
STOKOE - 1930-2004
by Gerry Wolstenholme Blackpool FC Historian
Bob Stokoe, Blackpool's manager on two occasions, has
died in hospital on 1 February aged 73. He was born
in Prudhoe on 21 September 1930.
As a player he was a hard-tackling centre half who
had appeared in the FA
Cup Final of 1955 and had played 287 games for
Newcastle United where he graduated through the
junior sides having started with Spen Juniors. He
ended his career in the 1963/64 season after playing
81 games for Bury,
where he had gone in exchange for John McGrath and
where he was
player-manager.
He was appointed manager of Charlton Athletic in
August 1965 and then filled a similar post at
Rochdale in October 1967. He managed Carlisle United
from October 1968 and led the team to the semi-finals
of the League Cup. Then he got the call to manage
Blackpool in January 1971 after Jimmy Meadows had
taken over as caretaker manager following the
departure of Les Shannon after an inglorious 4-3
defeat by Chelsea in October 1970.
By the time Stokoe took over Blackpool were
struggling in 21st position in
the First Division but he announced "What is
past is past as far as I am
concerned. For me the season started last Saturday
and each and every player will be judged by what he
does from now on. This means every player I have
comes into my first team plans."
He made this remark in the knowledge that players
such as Alan Suddick, Fred Pickering and Harry
Thomson were playing reserve team football and the
club had suspended the last two named. And he added,
"I have told all the players, Harry and Fred
included, that what has happened before has no
relevance as far as I am concerned. I haven't even
bothered to find out what they were suspended for and
I shall treat them like everyone else unless they
give me cause to do otherwise."
Thus his first spell at the club began but despite
his early remark, "I
think we realise are not going to break any pots this
season in the League
but we must aim to stay up and then we can start
planning further for the
future", it was not to be as Blackpool finished
bottom of Division One and
were relegated. However they was some consolation in
that he led the club to
Anglo-Italian success when Bologna were beaten 2-1
after extra time on 12
June 1971.
The 1971/72 season was a near miss regarding
promotion as Blackpool finished in sixth place and,
as holders, returned to defend their Anglo-Italian
trophy. This time they lost 3-1 to AS Roma in the
final. The 1972/73 season
saw him lead Blackpool into the top three of the
Second Division but, after
a 2-1 victory at Hull City, the call to return to his
native north-east was
too strong. Even though Sunderland were at the time
third from the bottom of
the table he went to Roker Park in November 1972. The
season culminated with his side securing the FA Cup
in a sensational victory over Leeds United.
He left Sunderland in October 1976 and his next
appointment was as manager of Bury in November 1977
but his stay at Gigg Lane was short-lived for his
return to Blackpool came prior to the start of the
1978/79 season when the club faced its first ever
season in Division Three, having ended the previous
season in 20th position in Division Two.
He had a difficult job on hand for cash constraints
were hitting the club and he was obliged to sell some
of the club's best and most experienced players. They
were replaced by less experienced men and although he
brought in some of his old favourites such as Bobby
Kerr and Dick Malone from Sunderland days, the best
that Blackpool could do was to finish in 12th
position. It was not a position of which he was proud
and this meticulous and determined man felt that the
time was right for him to resign so he left in August
1979 after just the one season in charge.
He did some scouting for Carlisle before taking over
as Rochdale manager in November 1979 and then he
returned to Carlisle United in September 1980 and in
1981/82 he took them to the Second Division. As
was his wont he returned to a former club,
Sunderland, where he had a spell as caretaker-manager
from April to June 1987.
He may well have spent a great deal of his career
elsewhere in the Football
League but he has played a significant part in the
history of the Seasiders
and his Anglo-Italian triumph, in particular, will be
forever remembered."
Also, thanks once
again to David Szabo who sent me this article from BBC SPORT Sunderland mourn Stokoe
Former
Sunderland manager Bob Stokoe has died at the age of
73.
Stokoe, who had been suffering from dementia, was
admitted to the University Hospital of Hartlepool on
Tuesday and died on Sunday morning.
Stokoe led the club to their famous 1973 FA Cup final
victory over Leeds, when the north-east club were
massive underdogs against Don Revie's side.
The victory was the first time a second division team
had secured the Cup for 40 years.
After the famous FA Cup win, Stokoe took Sunderland
into the top flight in 1976 but resigned the
following season, citing ill health.
He returned briefly as caretaker manager in 1987
after Lawrie McMenemy was sacked, but Sunderland were
relegated to the Third Division for the first time in
their history.
And with him goes a piece of FA Cup history, that
famous run to Jimmy Montgomery after the 1973 Final.
Ally MacLeod (Ayr United)
Very sadly
on the same day that the news of Bob Stokoe's death, came
the news that a Scottish football great, Ally MacLeod had
died. For people of my generation, Ally will be most
remembered for being the subject of the 1978 hit single
'Ally's Tarten Army' by Andy Cameron, which reached
number 6 in 1978 and stayed in the chart for 8 weeks.
To be fair
it did celebrate one of the high points of his career
when he was the manager of Scotland's 1978 World Cup
campaign.
Back in
70-71 he was the manager of Ayr United, his first
managerial post and a club with whom he is most clearly
associated.
This
obituary for Ally appears at BBC SPORT Scotland Ally MacLeod
dies
Former Aberdeen
and Scotland manager Ally MacLeod has died at the age
of 72.
The man who led
Scotland to the 1978 World Cup passed away peacefully
at home in Ayrshire and had been suffering from
Alzheimer's disease for a number of years.
A talented left
winger with Hibernian and Blackburn as a player, he
began his management career at Ayr United.
"It's
devastating news for every Ayr supporter because Ally
meant so much to us," said club director John
Dalton.
MacLeod will be
remembered for his boast that Scotland would
"bring back a medal" from Argentina.
However, defeat
to Peru and an embarrassing draw with Iran meant
Scotland were packing their bags early, despite a
famous 3-2 win over Holland.
After the poor
showing in Argentina, MacLeod returned to management
with Motherwell, Airdrie, Ayr again and Queen of the
South.
"He has been
manager of the club three times and was a success
every time and took Ayr United from nothing to a team
to be reckoned with the likes of Rangers and
Celtic," Dalton continued.
"He was made
freeman of the town and he was an absolute legend and
his passing is a great loss to football.
"My thoughts
are with his family. He meant so much to Ayr United,
Scottish football and supporters everywhere."
Former Scotland
stars Kenny Dalglish and Joe Jordan both spoke well
of their former manager.
"He will be
sadly missed by everyone that knew him not just in
Ayr," said Dalglish.
"Ally was a
real larger than life character. He was somebody who
brought a great deal of humour into whatever company
he was in."
Jordan added:
"I know that he was always very fair to me as a
player and he was a person I worked with for a number
of years at international level."
The Scottish
Football Association also paid tribute to MacLeod.
"Obviously
everybody in Scottish football is saddened to hear of
his death," said a SFA spokesman.
"Although he
is perhaps best known as the Scotland manager in '77
and '78, Ally was a guy who devoted his entire life
to football as a player with several clubs and then
as manager.
"He was at
Hampden as recently as last July to accept an award
from the Tartan Army who presented him with a crystal
decanter set in appreciation of his services to the
national team and to Scottish football in general.
"That shows
the high regard in which he was held by the people of
Scotland."
Further
February / March 2004 news can be found at ...
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