On 4th January 1969 the City
played Arsenal at Ninian Park in the 3rd round of the FA Cup. The Gunners'
line-up that day included players whose fame / infamy continued long after
their playing days were done. In goal was Scotland's Bob Wilson who became a TV
broadcaster and pundit and the subject of an affectionate (?) tribute by Half
Man Half Biscuit ' Bob Wilson, Anchorman' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Jf06WlIwEs
At the heart of their defence was
the tough, uncompromising hatchet man Peter Storey who after retiring had a
colourful and spectacularly unsuccessful career in the import/export business (http://observer.theguardian.com/osm/story/0,,642508,00.html)
Their midfield playmaker George
Graham went on to manage the club before being dismissed in 1995 after
trousering two hundred and eighty five thousand smackers as a 'gift' from an
agent for agreeing to sign Norwegian John Jensen (who famously took 98 games to
break his duck; his only goal in 132 appearances for the Gunners).
Up front striker Bobby Gould
attained notoriety as a combative coach, manager and ultimately Public Enemy
No.1, falling out at various times with Robbie Savage (understandable) Vinnie
Jones (pardonable) Leighton James (laudable) Gary Speed (inconceivable) Richey
of the Manic Street Preachers (incomprehensible) and ultimately the entire
Welsh Nation (implausible, but true).
Other names in the programme that
day - Bob McNab, Frank McLintock, John Radford, Pat Rice, George Armstrong - retain a vitality even as their Soccer
Stars sticker profiles lie dormant amongst other discarded childhood ephemera
on an attic floor, forever frozen in an aerial tussle, setting off on a mazy
dribble or lining up a shot that may have changed the course of a game, a
season, a life, begging questions that remain unanswered, unresolved.
These sticker albums have a
nostalgic hold on the collectors that can be both compelling and irrational. A
new book 'Six Stickers: A Journey To Complete An Old Sticker Album' details one
fan's quest to complete his 1996 album. Unable to find the missing profiles he
determines to track down the players and photograph them himself, at one point
knocking on the door of a house in a small Belgian village in search of
Phillipe Albert. Who wasn't in.
I managed to complete both my
Soccer Stars (1969-70) and the follow-up Soccer Stars In Action (1970-71)
albums, despite on one occasion buying a packet from Wheaton's on Fairwater Green that contained
SIX Denis Smiths (Stoke City 1968-82).
My career as a football obsessive
almost came to an untimely end on that grey day 44 years ago. The Grange End
had a separate 'Boys Enclosure' presumably designed to allow the adults to
shout, swear and smoke with their mates, unrestrained by parental
accountability. The long queues on Sloper Road weren't segregated and it was
every man for himself as 55,316 fans were sardined into the creaking stadium
via the narrow turnstiles. I remember looking skyward at one point, fighting
for air as someone called out 'give the kid some room'. Ibrox, Heysel and
Hillsboro were to follow but many such tragedies were narrowly avoided in the
preceding years.
My reward was a goalless
stalemate from which the Match of the Day team managed to conjure up five
minutes of highlights as we were relegated to the last of the three featured
games. Still, I was allowed to stay up and watch the entire show as well as
'Til Death Us Do Part' that preceded it. Much to Mum's disgust.
We lost the return leg 2-0 and in
the seven ties between the teams since, the best we've managed has been a
couple more hard fought 0-0 stand-offs . At the risk of being considered
unambitious, one of those tomorrow would do nicely.
More murmurings of discontent in
that disreputable rag The Echo today as the local hacks gorge on the crumbs
that drop from Tan's banquet of the vanities - some crazy Turk who's also
linked with the position at Portsmouth. See this and weep http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzvH1KZJ5DA#t=42
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