Nov 19, 1960: Utd 3-1 Rotherham
Attendance: 20442
Things continued to get even better. Top of the league, a convincing win which could have been by a greater margin, and a first home crowd of over 20000, even if it took a local derby to reach that figure.
United were playing some really good football: glowing reports from the previous week by England manager Walter Winterbottom were still being discussed (not least in the programme) when we witnessed a fine attacking performance which should have been matched by an even higher scoreline than 3-1.
It was slightly misty, but the goals by Russell and Simpson stood out for the clinical finishes. In particular, when Sheffield-born reliable goalkeeper Ironside attempted to set up a counterattack, he could not have picked out a worse player than Simpson to give the ball away to. Simpson had a hard and accurate left-foot shot, and in those days of heavy ball and heavy grounds, a well-struck shot went arrow-like towards the goal, rather than wobbling this way and that as the modern balls do. There was something special about being behind the goal when Ronnie Simpson hit the ball; I’m not sure about the 40-yard distance claimed in the report, though.
The team was still pretty settled. The back 6 picked itself, and by the end of this game 5 of them had played all 19 league games, with just Graham Shaw having missed 5 games through injury; his replacement, Cliff Mason, was better than many of us expected, and as we found out later that season, he was surprisingly versatile. After 19 games, only 18 goals had been conceded, by far the best defensive record in the Division.
The attack was doing fine, but without the same consistency. Russell and Pace were ever-presents, and Pace had scored 15 goals in 19 games; Russell had 7 goals from right-wing, but his natural position was inside-forward. On the left-wing, Simpson had missed just 1 game through injury, and had scored 6 goals and created many more. Inside-forward was still a problem with Russell being used as a winger. Young Nibloe’s goals were beginning to dry up, and he was about to go away on National Service for a few weeks. Hamilton was talented, inconsistent, and prone to injuries; Hodgson too had had several injuries, and for the Rotherham game Shiels came in for his first game of the season. He had good moments, but was never totally convincing. So we needed a right-winger and an inside-forward if we were to keep up our promotion challenge. We did not know at the time that the inside-forward was on the pitch that day, though injury made his impact limited that season. The right-winger we needed was eventually signed, and was to prove a absolutely vital; though it is quite possible that had we signed him a little earlier, I might have fulfilled my dream of watching United in a Wembley Cup Final. I am, of course, still waiting.
Amongst other things, the Lines from the Pavilion have a discussion about crowds watching United and Wednesday which is similar to several posts on this Forum - which is the biggest club? There is nothing new under the sun. And next week it is off to Anfield, to play against an in-form Liverpool who are still some way behind us in the League. I wonder if we have since then travelled to Anfield with Liverpool below us in the league.
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