Hi Hodgy and Silent . As ever , lots of excellent stuff in your recent contributions which bring back many memories , notably the Spurs match and England v Poland - much appreciated and keep up the good work.
With regard to the latter , I can safely say that me and my pal were sufficiently well lubricated when we arrived at Wembley , after having driven down from Sheffield arriving in Leicester Square at bang on midday and spending the rest of the day sampling the wares of various taverns in the locality for the next 6 hours before heading off for the stadium .
Nevertheless , I have a clear recollection of many incidents that took place during the match , including being bang in line with the Polish striker when he hit the shot which beat Shilton.
However , out of all the various match reports and other written material you reproduced , the one that gave me most pleasure was that of the journalists summary of Joe Shaw’s performance in the Liverpool match . If anyone who had the privilege of watching him play over a period of many years were to be asked to describe his outstanding abilities and sheer consistency in just two short sentences , they would be hard pressed to match this one .
Based on where it appeared it would be easy to miss , so for the benefit of those who did (and my own as I just love reading it ! ) , it read as follows :-
“ Joe Shaw , what can be said about this amazing man that has not been said over the past five years? Does he ever make a mistake?
I can see him in ten years time from now casually nodding the ball out to his wing halves or dribbling quietly round a fuming , frustrated First Division forward “.
What a wonderfully descriptive and perceptive piece of journalism that is . Many thanks for giving me the pleasure of reading it .