27/1/1971
I still clearly remember that at around 6pm on that Wednesday evening, out of boredom I got into the toybox in darkness in the living room (well there wasnt much to do at home in the evening when it is dark!). Unexpectedly my mum opened the lid as she wanted to tell me something. She had heard from the Calendar News that United had signed Trevor Hockey from Birmingham. He was a player I had heard of but I wasnt sure what he looked like or what position he plays in (I did see him when we won with a Tudor goal at St Andrews on 10/10/1970 but I hadnt really noticed him). It was the first time we had signed a player since we signed John Barnwell and Bill Dearden in April 1970. When my dad had got home from work the first thing I did was to tell him that we had signed Trevor Hockey from Birmingham. He seemed positive but I dont think he really remembered what Hockey looked like.
In the next morning on his way to work my dad picked up the Daily Express from the local newsagent and decided to buy the Morning Telegraph too only because he wanted to see the report of us signing Hockey but he got a shock when he found news that would disappoint me so he decided to return home to wake me up with the Morning Telegraph. I still remember the shock and confusion when I saw the big photo (see below) on the back page. There were 5 people in the photo so my dad left me to work out what had happened. There was Dick Wragg (our chairman), John Hope, David Ford, John Tudor and Joe Harvey (Newcastle manager). I got horrified when I had slowly began to realise that John Tudor, one of my favourite players and someone I often spoke to outside the John Street players entrance after matches, had left us to join Newcastle! I paid little attention to John Hope and David Ford (both from Newcastle- I knew about Ford and that he scored for Wendy in the 1966 FA Cup final but not heard of Hope) who had signed for us in the exchange deal. My dad wasnt planning on going to Oxford for our next match in two days time but he then said "We will go to Oxford now" hoping that I would calm down but I then said "Look at John in the photo looking happy to leave us for Newcastle!". He had to tell me that as a professional footballer it would be daft for him to turn down a chance to play in the 1st division again and play under a manager who rates him. My dad then wondered if the signing of keeper John Hope meant that he is to replace Hodgy (he was a big fan of Hodgy but I noticed that he showed disappointment in him more often when he made mistakes and letting in soft goals during the season) straight away or is seen as a future 1st teamer putting pressure on Hodgy to play better despite that we have a reserve keeper in Graeme Crawford.
Ted Kent, a teacher at my school, Maud Maxfield, asked me over to his classroom to have a chat about our three signings and the sale of John Tudor. He talked more about John Hope and he thought that he would be a replacement for Hodgy in the future but not in two days time or in the near future.
I have never seen a photo of Hockey signing for us (transfer fee was £40,000) and am not sure if he was the first signing on that Wednesday or was the last. Maybe on that evening my mum had missed Calendar News announcement of our signings from Newcastle with Tudor going the other way and she just had caught Hockey's name at the end?
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